Still Splashing in the Pool

Since we announced the 'training pool' a few months back the dogs have logged hundreds of miles on. I blogged about Jinx being cut from the string, but others have dropped out for one reason or another too, so I thought it was time to bring you all up to speed.

As expected, most of the 2 year olds have dropped. That's okay, we expect that. Scud, Squib, Fletch and Missy will have their day!

Fletch with brother Todd in the background.

Missy

Scud

Two two year olds, however, that have exceeded all expectations. They are big, leggy, handsome (and ever so polite) Todd and little spitfire Molly.

Todd

Molly

Todd, in particular, is doing GREAT. He has even been doing a fair amount of leading - pretty much unheard of for a two year old in our kennel. Don't know if he will make the 'race team' this year, but he is serving notice that he will be a key player in the kennel in years to come!!!

Jinx and Bingo are the two veterans that have been cut. Bingo is REVELING in her retirement. Jinx not so much!

Yesterday was a bit of a sad and unexpected cut. Ten days or so again Pop started favoring a shoulder on one of our runs. In all the years and miles of ATV training, only one other time have I had a dog go seriously lame on a run. I called Brittany to come pick him up.

He was alittle annoyed with his time off and was doing everything he could to convince us he was feeling fine and ready to run. A few days ago I gave in and ran him, he did great with no signs of lameness, but yesterday about 25 miles in, the shoulder started acting up again.
He will need a solid block of time off now and unfortunately, that means his training miles will fall too far behind.
He had been doing great this season, so it is disappointing to cut him, but much more important that we do right by him so he will be around for many seasons to come.

So the 24 dogs left in the training pool (in the order they are fed) are - Wifi, Todd, Irving, Q, Rocket, Smartie, Bang, Tess, Roscoe, Charge, Jack, Turtle, Wolvie, Rocky, Astro, See, Kelly, Crackle, Tramp, Snap, Billie, Boo, Molly and Wonder.

It's a good group and I'm having a blast with them!!!